If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live life a lot differently – Calvin and Hobbs
It’s weird how easy the business of life sneaks up on you. One moment you’re a kid, having friends over every chance you can get, opening a McDonald’s Happy Meal like Christmas morning, and spending the whole day digging holes and climbing trees. Next, you’re graduated from high school, working three jobs and finding yourself looking at your phone more than looking outside. Time flies, and before you know it everything around you has changed and maybe in some ways you haven’t changed at all.
Something I’ve always known to be true is how different it feels when I’m staying active. Not just the physical “staying in shape” active or “working out” active. I mean actively always finding ways to get out of being stuck doing nothing; stuck being complacent. Being active can look like simply trying something new, going outside often, reading the Word, actively saying “yes” to something that originally didn’t sound intriguing, etc. All those things leave room for endless possibilities to grow, learn, make memories, create habits, build friendships and more.
Recently, the thing that’s encouraged me to be more active is our horse, Maverick. Going from knowing nothing about horses to learning all there is about caring for one has been a learning curve, but it’s also made me realize a lot of things about my life that I didn’t notice before. Not until I became active in something new. It made me realize that I need to get outside more, try hard things, spend more time with my friends and family and even purposely find ways to get my hands dirty more often. It’s taught me to put a pause on some of my current hobbies to pick up a new one.
It’s pretty cool how God uses little things in our life to make bold something else. And, maybe Bill Watterson, the author of Calvin and Hobbs got it right: maybe if people took time to notice and enjoy the simple things in life, they’d live a lot differently—like maybe being a little more active and a lot more joyful. So go outside! Try something new. Be active in life and especially in the Word—I promise you’ll see the world a whole lot differently if you do.
There’s so many seasons we go through in our lifetime, and I’ve come to figure that out more and more in recent months. Entering a new season of life can be both exciting and daunting, but I’ve been trying to learn to embrace each season whether good or bad, and find beauty in the mundane. Since it has been awhile since I’ve blogged fluently (although I’m changing that!), I thought it would be fitting to share some of the recent seasons of life I’ve gone through, and where I’m at now.
Starting in November basketball started, and it had been 3 years since I had played, this being my Junior year in high school. My sister, a freshmen who just started out attending school with me, also played, and there’s something different yet exciting about doing something together with a sibling. The season brought joy and hardships and I learned a lot through it, whether directly related to the sport or not. Being honest I don’t think I had ever felt so burnt out before, but it was a fun new experience to play high school ball, I built a lot of stronger relationships with my team mates, and it also greater emphasized the parts of my life I knew I cherished and had to be less active in during that season.
If you follow me on Instagram then you might know I started dating Zane back in May of 2022. It’s amazing and mind-blowing how God orchestrates our lives and causes all things to happen during His sovereign and perfect timing, most of the time without us expecting it. He’s been teaching me a lot during this season of life and continues to do so each and every day, and I couldn’t be more grateful for Him bringing Zane and I together. Everyday the Lord is still working on my heart and guiding and directing me, but it’s been so much fun dating my best friend and making memories together. I can’t wait to see where the Lord will take us ❤
Last year I got to go snowboarding for the first time, and this year I was excited to go again and build on what I learned before. I’ve got to go twice this season so far, and it’s by far one of my new favorite hobbies! Another thing God brought to my attention that I never would have thought of before. I don’t know if I’ll be able to squeeze another trip in before the season ends, but I’m for sure looking forward to next year. If you’ve never tried snowboarding before, I highly recommend it 😉
Track season recently started, and though it’s another sport that takes up time, it’s quite a bit different then basketball in terms of practice schedule and meets. I still have a lot of free time to get things done after practice, and I like still having something that pushes me to put in hard work and manage my time more wisely. This is my second year doing track and it’s been a lot of fun building on what I learned last year. I’m by no means even close to being a track star, but hanging out with friends after school, building relationships, and encouraging each other to put in the hard work is all worth it to me.
In January my pig Freya had her first litter of piglets, and there’s no way I could write this post without sharing pictures of them. I absolutely love raising pigs, and this year I think I struck gold with how stinkin’ cute each 8 of them were, and how nice it was having them with the new set up. I also a few weekends ago built them a new pig house, and Freya and Tilley are now living the luxury life 😉 Before this litter was born too, I had hoped to name one of them Douglas (I may or may not have a running list on my phone of future piglet names), and again, I struck gold! Not only is he the sweetest pig I’ve ever owned and the cutest little furry potato baby ever, but he’s also the only piglet that hasn’t found a forever home yet because I’m so attached, and can’t give him away without finding the perfect home for him 🙂
Little Douglas ^^
As for the school year, it’s weird to think we’ll be on the home stretch when we get back from spring break. Junior year has been so fun in so many ways, and though I expected this school year to be a good one, I still never predicted just how much joy it’d bring. As my Junior year starts to slowly come to a close and talk starts arising about Senior year, it reminds me more and more how small this chapter of my life is, and how every day I have a chance to make the most of it and cherish the little moments, something I recently wrote about on my instagram, and continue to be reminded of often.
There’s so so so much more that’s happened and things I could spend hours writing about, but these are a few of my highlights. I hope you all are doing well and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Happy spring friends!
Whatare some of your highlights from recent months? Do you have any spring break plans?
Five Shekels 